1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure herein relates generally to methods for determining the composition of a material sample by analyzing infrared energy that has been passed through or emitted from the material sample.
2. Description of the Related Art
When taking measurements of a sample of blood (or other materials) in order to assess a particular aspect such as glucose content, a number of problems are realized. A sample is collected in/on a test strip, or cuvette, or perhaps by a noninvasive means, whereby a source is applied to the blood sample (or tissue in a noninvasive sense) and the constituents can be analyzed. When the initial readings are taken, many blood analytes appear in the data and the next step is to identify which reading correlates to each particular constituent to identify and quantify the blood analyte of interest.
For example, a measurement of a blood sample is taken and the focus is to measure blood glucose in such a way as to identify its content and to predict its trend (rising, falling, or sustained). When the sample is measured all sorts of variables influence the data. To obtain accurate measurements it is helpful to understand which constituents are present in the data set, understand their effects on the analyte that is being measured (such as glucose), and correct for any differences that intrinsic and measuring-device-related variables may cause.